Everypony knows of the Church of Sol Invictus, a church dedicated to the princess of the sun, to Celestia. A church dedicated to doing what's right, dedicated to the light, it is very well known but there is a darker side to it. Like all religions it is taken too far by many, these "vigilantes" claim that they are stand against twisted ideals. Claiming that ponies who are into BDSM are bad and often times will oust them to the public, shaming that pony and their way of life. This has been going on for many years now, but now there is another group that is working to counter them. My name is Heather, a the leader of The Secret Flame, a group dedicated to helping and protecting those ousted ponies. We are part of a secret society that has offered shelter to ponies who's desires do not match up with the social norms. We call ourselves, The Clocktower Society. Though the society has been around for ages, our group is newer.
The Church of Sol Invictus and The Society have always been at odds, for as long as the both of us have been around, the tensions increased during the fall of Princess Luna. Sol Invictus saw Luna's followers as evil, as monsters that needed to be destroyed. It was at this time that the Society went under completely ground and took those followers with them. Among the ponies who were given refuge were many an alchemists who were experts in crafting and altering the natural materials of the world. Their joining the society lead to advancements in many areas, prompting many discoveries that have benefited the Society, and Equestria, for the last 1000 years. This however is not their story, for this story you won't find in any of the Society or Sol Invictus history books, for this is the story of the secret war.
My own story is intertwined with this story, I lead The Secret Flame. Guiding our surface operations in everything from sabotage to collecting those who get ousted. We have waged this war for years and I expect that we will for years to come. I was practically born in the society, my mother is of the Hearthswaring Shrine and my father is one of the instructors that help with introducing new members to The Society. The two of them were together ten years before they had me. Being born in the society is an uncommon thing but not unheard of, those who are born here often learn many things faster than outside counterparts. Being denied the ability to partake in the activities of The society until we reach age can, and is, difficult. We often head out to work once we have our cutie marks. Since we can get apprenticeships we often times go live on the surface to learn what the normal world is like, we would of course be allowed back to see our families.
It was during my apprenticeship that I learned the true horrors of the Church of Sol Invictus. My mark signified that I was to be a planer and as such, I was assigned to one of our surface friends who was a lawyer. He would often take me back on the weekend when he visited Clocktower, this let me see my family and see the society a bit differently. After a couple of years an incident occurred, the specifics are still sketchy and the truth was lost to death. The Church of Sol Invictus found out about my mentor's kinks, nothing serious but none the less when he was ousted ponies began to protest and eventually I found him hanging from the balcony of his apartment. His practice was shut down just days before because no one would go to him anymore. On that day I swore to end this war and vanished into the night.
Three nights later the Manehatten branch of the Church of Sol Invictus was set ablaze and burned to the ground. Though they will never admit it, there was a message in the basement that was carved into the wall. "We're coming for you." This was the beginning of the Secret War. The beginning of my crusade for revenge and justice.
I was only fifteen when I started the war, when I ventured into the Society I was brought before the princess of love, Cadence, and the heads of the Equestrian Clocktower sites. They were disappointed in me, furious that I would take action like that. They all but opened the door to the regular world, but I protested showing them my plans and my ideas. Still I was ridiculed so, calling upon my pegasus magic, I froze myself to the spot and refused to let them move me until they listened to me.
"Heather, I know the death of your mentor hurts a lot but this isn-" Cadence started in her usual soft tone. The room was made of carved stone, the ceiling was reinforced with eight wooden beams and a fire burned in the center of the room. Around the fire was a circular table at which most of the Clocktower's higher officials were sitting at, having been brought in after I had frozen my hooves to the floor.
"Cadence, you more than anypony should know that the number of attacks and deaths are increasing each year!" I exclaimed, "Something has to be done to stop this and I have shown you my plans, my talent, my destiny, you know I will win this war against their injustice. Give me the chance." I flared my wings to drive home the point. The fire flickered lighting up the faces of all the ponies in the room.
"You know we cannot allow you to do so." Cadence said plainly as she turned away from me, casting a long shadow over me. From behind me the door was flung open slamming into the wall and getting everpony's attention.
"Why not Princess?" This pony stepped in, dressed in traditional attire indicating that she is part of the Kindler Faith, the head maiden of the Hearthswarmer Shrine. Alongs side the maiden was her apprentice, Acolyte Passionate, a friend of mine in a sense, we grew up together and we were always friendly. She smiled at me, and gave me a wave before her mentor gave her a tap on the shoulder with her magic.
"You know exactly why Reverend Faithful, it goes against harmony to do so!" Cadence exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in the air. "She burned their church, that's far from harmonious." The rest of the room was silent, aside from the crackling of the fire.
"Her tactics are unrefined and she is young, but as the rest of the heads know, I have already submitted a proposal for a counter organization to be formed to take on Sol Invictus. I would like young Heather to become the Director of our Secret Flame. Sure she'll need some training but with time and control she will be every bit the pony we need." Faithful gave a sweeping gaze across the room, "this is why I am here. There have been reports that the radicals of Sol Invictus are beginning to get out of hand. More of our ponies are falling victim to their attacks and it will only get worse. It is why I am here, before all the heads of the Equestrian Clocktower Sites. Please approve Secret Flame, let us fight for the safety of our ponies."
"Why should we let you handle this?"asked Silver Chair, chairpony of the Dom's Council and current leader of Clocktower East. His silver coat shimmered in the fire's light.
"Because Silver, this is an issue of ideals and faith. It is a contest of beliefs and who better to met the challenge than us." She replied with a simple tone, as if she was giving somepony the time of day. "Aside from the ancient rivalry between us and Sol Invictus, I have connections on the surface that the rest of the society doesn't."
I was starting to see a definite shift in the room, some of the ponies were starting to whisper and what snippets I could pick up showed that they were leaning in our direction. We still needed to win over some of the bigger players, ponies like the head of the CTS Laboratories and the chairpony of the sub's collective. Seeing them deep in thought, I played my first trump card. "Last year we lost a Sub and Dom who were both ousted by Sol Invictus," I said, cutting off the conversation and drawing the heads of everyone in the room. "When they were ousted they ran from a mob of bigots and fanatics, heading in to a forest where they ultimately took their own lives."
All eyes were on me, faces in varying reflections of shock as I continued. "Now I know this was hidden because it would have caused an uproar across the whole of The Society. I checked to make sure that there was no one here who did not already know of this. As for me, it took about an hour of digging through the Manehatten paper archive to find out when they were found, and their names were crossed out of the Clocktower Member Book. All this lead me to the conclusion that I have reached, they died because nothing was done to stop Sol Invictus. Now, we're required to carry our badges when outside of The Society, just in case something like this happens again."
While I was talking I was handing out copies of my quick digging to the ponies in the room. It had charts, webs connecting the events and copies of the papers and a picture of the ledger with the two crossed off names. "The Dom, Quick Wit, was often times working at the laboratories helping further our science in sex and pleasure. Quick was a business pony with a knack for innovation and cheer. The Sub, Light Tap, was the previous chairpony of the Sub Collective and a guiding light in the art of pleasing your master. She was a dancer at the Manehatten Institute of Creative Dance."
"The reason that we need to take the fight to them, is to prevent this tragedy from happening again." Faithful said, picking up from where I left off, "let us bring this to a vote. Hoof up for the Secret Flame, hooves down for keeping it the way it is now" Hoof after hoof raised including the two we had needed to win over. By the time all the hooves were counted only ten ponies didn't vote yes, the biggest was the Silver Chair.
"I still don't like it but you won the vote of the Equestrian Clocktower Council, and I will support this endeavor," his gray coat shimmered in the light like it was made of actual silver, as he stood up. "Give me a list of the things you require and it will be done and I will have my apprentice Dr. Horse get things started." With that he walked out of the room, muttering something about being too old to handle this bullshit. Once he left the crowed began to disperse leaving just me, Reverend Faithful and Acolyte Passionate.
"All things considered, that went better than we expected." Acolyte Passionate said, visibly relaxing. Sitting down on one of the benches along the wall, she sighed as she sunk into a meditative state.
I turned to the Reverend, "I have the plans all drawn up. The room we'll need, the supplies, everything. Do you want me to deliver them or do you want to?" I asked her as I held them out to her.
"For now it is best that I deliver them but soon we will have a lot of work to do. I hope you're up to the task." The Reverend smiled at me before she left the room, and I joined my friend on the bench and kicked back, relaxing peacefully. It would be my last day before the war started.
